This week on the Lifehacker podcast we're learning that Internet Explorer 9 isn't the worst browser on the face of the planet. Also, the Galaxy SIII dominates this month's best Android phone contest and we realize the Skype ringtone is the best there is. We answer questions about hybrid hard drives, show off a surge protector, and fix YouTube.

How to Watch or Listen to This Week's Episode

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News and Discussion

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There wasn't much in the way of news, but we did see the announcement of the latest and greatest Android phone. Also, Whitson spent a week with Internet Explorer 9 as his primary browser and we all discovered our mutual love for the Skype ringtone.

Samsung Introduces the Galaxy SIII, But Does It Matter? Samsung introduced their Galaxy III last week, and it's now the latest and greatest Android phone available. We kind of feel there's one of those every month or two, and you really have to care about your phone's hardware specs to feel too excited. Gizmodo pitted the SIII against the iPhone 4S, but none of it really discussed much in the way of real-world performance. The iPhone often takes the prize because of it's battery life, ease of use, and responsiveness. Whether or not the SIII can win on those counts remains to be seen.

Questions and Answers

Each week we answer five questions from readers and listeners. Here's what we tackled this week.

Google Play won't let me pay with Google Wallet. How can I pay for Android apps when I'm not allowed to use my bank account? Bank/payment issues are complicated and, more importantly, specific, so we didn't have a great answer for this caller because we don't have an eye into the way his bank and Google are communicating. That said, if you're having a payment issue with anybody you can always pick up a prepaid debit card and use that instead. It's kind of a silly workaround, as you should be able to use your credit card to buy things from retailers who accept it, but while you're waiting for the problem to be resolved it can help you make a purchase. Plus, if the retailer won't take the debit card for some reason it's still money you can spend anywhere.

When dealing with Google Play specifically, however, it might help to get on the phone. Surprisingly, Google actually has phone support for Play. If you force your way to the contact page in the support section, you can enter your phone number and their support team will give you a call. Possibly, then, you can get to the root of any payment issue.

How can I keep my car cool for an extended period of time so I don't overheat anything inside (e.g. my phone)? The listener/viewer who sent in this question wants to keep her phone cool in her car because she's not allowed to have it at work, but she didn't want to damage the phone. In our opinion, it would be better to store the phone in a bag that comes into the office rather than leaving it in the car. The heat can damage it, and the best thing to prevent the phone from overheating in a vehicle would be to put it in an ice pack of some kind. That has its own issues and seems a little bit like overkill when the phone can just stay in a bag.

What happens to a file when it's deleted from my computer? When you delete a file on your computer, it isn't actually deleted. Emptying the trash or the recycling bin just tells the hard drive to mark the sector of the drive where the file currently is stored to be overwritten. This makes deleting quick, and also provides you with the ability to restore deleted files. While there are data forensic measures that are often able to recover a deleted file despite measures to completely dispose of it, if you want to securely erase something so that most people won't be able to recover it you need to write zeroes over that part of your disk. OS X's built-in Disk Utility can write zeroes over the free space for you, and you can also just choose Secure Empty Trash from the File menu when you want to do this as well. Windows users can install DeleteOnClick for similar functionality.

If you want a lot of space and a bit of a speed boost, can afford to pay a little premium on top of the cost and a standard hybrid, then get a hybrid drive.

Basically, whether or not it is a good investment comes down to your needs than anything else. It's a very good option for people with space and a little extra cash. If you don't fall into that category, you'll probably want to look at one of the other options.

How can I get iMessage-like functionality between a Mac and Android? With instant messaging apps or Google Voice. Messages and iMessage are Apple-only technologies and so they will not work with Android. That said, they're basically an instant messaging service. If you install any IM client on your computers and phones you can use it in just the same way as Messages/iMessages. Alternatively, if you want to communicate with any phone and any computer, Google Voice is the way to go. You can use apps like Growl Voice on the Mac and, of course, the Google Voice app on Android, to send text messages between them. It doesn't sync perfectly, but it's close enough. Using Google Voice you can ensure that you can communicate with pretty much any dumb phone, smartphone, or computer.

Show and Tell

This week I brought in a USB Charging 6-outlet Surge Protector, which is essentially a compact charge-everything surge protector and power port multiplier that attaches to your wall and even travels well. Their 3-outlet version has long been a favorite—and is actually made for travel purposes—but it doesn't sit flush against the wall and is prone to damage if you use too much force when plugging something in. I prefer the 6-outlet version for that reason (and for the extra six ports), but they're both good ways to make sure you can plug in and charge all your stuff.

Fix YouTube's Biggest Annoyances Last week Whitson decided YouTube was just too annoying and wanted to find a way to fix common problems like autoplay, annoying ads, and YouTube forcing the wrong video quality. He discovered a Chrome extension and user scripts that can solve these problems and more. If YouTube is annoying you, be sure to check out the post.

You probably use YouTube every single day, but it's not something you think about tweaking the …
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Fly Rights If something is wrong at the airport, Fly Rights is an app you might want to have on your smartphone. It'll tell you all the current TSA regulations and let you report a violation in the event something bad happens.

ShareMouse Whitson looked at an app called ShareMouse, which turned out to be one of the easiest ways to share a single mouse and keyboard with multiple computers. We've run down how to do this before with many solutions, but setting up ShareMouse takes the least effort. On the downside, it's kind of pricey and restrictive if you aren't using it for personal use—and the app does a lot to check your system to find out. If you've only got two computers with no more than two monitors each, however, it's an excellent cross-platform solution that you can use for free. If you want to pay the fees, however, those restrictions go away.

Sonora Sonora is now Whitson's favorite iTunes alternative for Mac and mine, too. It's really a novel approach to a music player. It not only syncs with iTunes if you need to use it for any reason, but it can manage music on its own if you don't. What is, perhaps, the best feature is the ability to just type what you want to listen to and have it play. A global hotkey can be assigned so you can do that from anywhere rather than just from the app itself. It also has excellent playlist and quick-queueing features, a beautiful interface, and lots more to like. It'll run you $10 but it's worth it.

Please keep your questions as brief as possible. This means about 3-5 sentences for emails and 30-60 seconds for calls and videos. Your questions can be specific, but broader questions are generally better because they'll apply to more people. For example, "how can I breathe new life into my old PDA?" is much better than "what can I do with an old HP iPAQ 210?" Either way, we look forward to hearing from you!